Simon Barker (on the left in the photo below), CTO and co-founder of the innovative home heating solution maker Radfan and a columnist for EE Times, will help kick off this year's Hardware Startup Engineering Summit at EE Live! 2014 by co-hosting the two-day program's opening session.

EE Live! 2014 will take place March 31-April 3 at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center. It serves as the premier electronics conference and expo for design engineers from all over the world. The Hardware Startup Engineering Summit -- one of several distinct programs featured at the conference -- is targeted at engineers who want to create or disrupt a market or learn about the agile product development strategies employed by successful hardware startups.

Barker has led Radfan's efforts in turning antiquated, inefficient home radiators into smart, environmentally and budget-friendly devices. The British company produces a clip-on unit for radiators that distributes warmth (and savings) throughout a room and cuts heating bills. Barker helped turned the company's cardboard prototype into an award-winning product within two years.

He will join BlueTipz founder Bob Baddeley and hardware entrepreneur Adam Ellsworth for the "Hardware Startup Engineering Summit Kickoff" session on Tuesday, April 1, from 10:45 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. at SJCC 210D. The trio will provide useful advice and help attendees get their entrepreneurial juices flowing by sharing their experiences launching successful startups. They will also share their perspectives on launching a product with or without a successful crowdfunding round, as well as strategies for tackling the European market.